The early Romanesque

The judges are the local representatives of the Byzantine emperor, who emancipated themselves in the tenth century and created the four independent kingdoms. To legitimate their power, they need, on the one hand, to reaffirm with Greek inscriptions their descent from the supreme authority of Constantinople, on the other hand, of papal protection against the powers of the West.
For this reason, after the Eastern Schism of 1054, they implemented a policy of donating churches to the Benedictine monastic orders closest to the papacy. In 1065, the first donations to the Cassinesi took place, followed during the eleventh and twelfth centuries by those to the Vittorini, the Camaldolesi, the Vallombrosani, the Cistercians, who built or rebuilt the churches. At the same time, a great effort is being made to restructure the diocesan ecclesiastical fabric, with the cathedral factory.

The founding legends, which came down to us in the 13th century, speak of all this and retain the memory of concrete historical facts, however transfigured by the legend. After the middle of the eleventh century, Comita Giudice di Torres, miraculously freed from leprosy, erected the magnificent basilica of San Gavino in Porto Torres, using Pisan workers. At the same time, Sister Giorgia undertook the construction of the castle of Ardara and the palatine chapel of Our Lady of the Kingdom, consecrated in 1107.

At the beginning of the 12th century, Judge Costantino and his wife Marcusa, unable to have heirs, vowed to build a monastery in Saccargia in honor of the Virgin and the Holy Trinity, which was among the Camaldolese possessions in 1112 and is among the most spectacular and well-known monuments of Romanesque Sardinia.

But Pisa is not the only place of origin of the workers who owe the first flowering of Romanesque architecture in Sardinia. Called by judges or bishops, builders from Lucca also arrived, whose imprint is evident in the church of San Giovanni di Viddalba (11th century). Following the Vittorini, the architects also arrived on the island, who gave the churches of San Saturnino in Cagliari or Sant'Efisio di Nora the architectural forms typical of the early Romanesque period that developed in the wide Mediterranean arc from Catalonia to Provence.

However, the workers responsible for most of the large Sardinian construction sites remained in Pisa between the middle of the eleventh and the middle of the twelfth century: in addition to San Gavino di Porto Torres and Santa Maria of the Kingdom of Ardara, the cathedrals of Santa Giusta, San Simplicio di Olbia and Sant'Antioco di Bisarcio, in addition to the abbey of Santa Maria di Bonarcado, consecrated by 1147, assume special importance.

This first Romanesque architecture in Sardinia is characterized by the audacity of the building projects, developed on a large dimensional scale, by the safety and technical skill in the entirely stone factory, by the preference given to structural sobriety and by the lack of propensity for decoration.

These are authentic masterpieces of art, which maintain a centuries-old, deep and significant relationship with the history and nature of the island, to be fully understood in order to be able to protect it against clumsy restorations or other contemporary aggressions.

Update

13/9/2023 - 12:26